First Meili Snow Mountain International Wine Festival

Greetings from Shangri-la.
 
Almost. I just returned from the high-flying ‘Shangri-La’ region, close to where Yunnan province meets Sichuan and Tibet. And where the local authorities took a big step by organizing the first Meili Snow Mountain International Wine Festival this month.
 
Shangri-La tops 3000 meters and already has wine fame from brands like LVMH’s Ao Yun and Xiaoling. And an oenological history featuring the arrival of 19th-century European missionaries bearing vines.
 
With a rising number of brands, and other China regions making moves, the festival aims to elevate Shangri-La. I joined as a speaker at an outdoor forum—snow-capped mountains as a backdrop—focused on these wines' prospects, and was a bit shocked by the festival.
 
I'll cover that below along with visits to Ao Yun and Bao Zhuang (the latter makes Celebre and is creating a stir: one prominent critic cites it as China’s best), my forum speech (I had five minutes to cover five advantages of Shangri-La wine) and some anecdotes (including a freelance winemaker who showed up with an orange wine.)
 
As always, I don't have sponsors and received no payment for this trip, so if you find my content useful, please consider helping to cover my hosting, newsletter, domain name and other costs via this link or the QR codes at the right side. Now onward and upward to Yunnan’s heights.

Cheers, Jim Boyce

(Also see my Grape Wall, World Marselan Day and World Baijiu Day sites and LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts.)

The Festival 

I've attended many wine festivals across China and this one exceeded expectations for an inaugural event. The setting gave the organizers an impressive starting point: waking to the snow-capped Meili Mountain range drenched in sunlight was inspiring enough. Enjoying that view while walking to the nearby festival area—after loading up on salty bacon, fried eggs, local noodles, yak butter tea and coffee—maintained the vibe.

True, the effects of high altitudes are not pleasant for many visitors, and our hotel room gift packs attested to that by including canned oxygen and medicine with fruits and snacks. But everything has its price.

For the festival, let me start at the end: an outdoor 100-plus person tasting of 11 wines that concluded the day.

The first wines poured were the region's five heavy-hitting reds, even before the Chardonnay. I like that moxie.

The total lineup included a mix of well-known brands and unknowns, ranging in quality from world class to “needs improvement”, and in style from dry reds to quality ice wines to a love-it-or-hate-it late harvest Cabernet Sauvignon. (I waffled and liked it. Celebre also stood out. More on that later.)

I sat beside a French winemaker who is based in Shandong province and gave helpful technical feedback on each wine that nicely balanced my hedonistic judgements

And the service was impressive: the staff precisely poured the wine, politely dealt with any issues, and—given the different tasting speeds at our table—somehow kept track of which bottle each of us was on. It was notable, especially under such conditions and for a first event.

As with other Chinese regions, there is a heavy focus on Bordeaux / France in terms of grape varieties and styles. (And of the handful of foreigners present, I was the only non-French.)

Maybe it's just me, but given the region’s missionary history, it would be good to present at least one grape variety associated with those pioneers, such as Rose Honey, especially as I've seen Bao Zhuang's version featured in some bars and restaurants.
 
Also, we now see notable roaming winemakers, like those of Xiao Pu, Petit Mont and FARMentation, visiting Shangri-La and area to create quirky labels they push into the China wine bar circuit frequented by more curious drinkers. These are an intriguing part of Shangri-La's rise.

In this spirit, one tasting highlight was a freelance winemaker named Martin W Ding who brought his local orange Chardonnay unannounced and that I tried on the side. This had 8 months of skin contact, 17 months of aging in new lightly toasted barrels and was bottled last month. Very juicy and fruity—think grapefruit and tangerine—with enough acidity that it made me think of a pairing with the salty bacon and those slightly greasy eggs enjoyed that morning. Breakfast wine!

Unfortunately, for most at the tasting, and at a group dinner later that night, this orange wine was something to be ignored or tried with a grimace. It reminded me of visits a decade-plus ago to regions like Ningxia where if it wasn't a Bordeaux-style red aged in new French oak, well, don't expect much patience or audience.
 
In any case, the tasting was very well-organized. Yes, one could quibble about some things, such as “Western” baked goods being served during the tasting instead of the very worthy local snacks, but the quality of the wines, service and setting made this an afternoon to remember.

Now, back to the festival’s beginning. A few observations.

I understand the need for VIPs to make speeches. And the bigger the festival, the more the speeches. But enduring a dozen-plus consecutive addresses plus taped congratulatory messages from “famous” people worldwide, as I’ve experienced in festivals such as those in Ningxia, is not especially enjoyable.

At the Meili Snow Festival, there were far fewer and distributed in a program full of fantastic local song and dance performances, including a harvest dance—a staple at China festivals—combined with wine-related videos, photos and info on numerous big screens.

Plus, our forum of about an hour and moderated by professor Ma Huiqin of China Agricultural University, and with Cui Kexu of Shangri-La Wines, Peter Dawa Pinchu of Ao Yun, Bertrand Cristau of Xiaoling and KOL Antoine Bunel. (My speech is below.) We tried to keep things short and sweet.

Finally, the festival included an area with booths featuring vendors of wines, including those not in the official tasting, and local products like honey, walnut oil, canned mushrooms, fruits and more. Yunnan offers a wealth of tasty treasures: strength in numbers, I say.

The day's icing on the cake—or its espresso after the wine—was the mobile coffee vendors on site who made as good an Americano or Latte as you will find anywhere on the road. Well done, Shangri-La.

Click for a video of the approach to Ao Yun winery

The Tour

Before heading to Yunnan, I was unsure what producers we would visit, but was somewhat intrigued with Xiaoling—I have been tasting their wines since the first vintage in 2014—and Zaxee, as they make delectable Chardonnay at a decent price.
 
It turned out we visited two different but worthy operations, Ao Yun and Bao Zhuang, the latter highly praised by Nanning-based expert Julien Boulard.

Drives between vineyards follow long, winding, high and sometimes bumpy roads, though many are much better than a decade ago, while offering impressive views of the mountains across and valleys below.
 
We first visited one of Ao Yun’s vineyards, called Shuori, which is set partway down a valley at 2500 meters, with a Mekong tributary winding far below.
 
Ao Yun's Alex Zhang said this site has Cabernet Sauvignon dating to 2004, plus newer plantings, with some varieties intermingled. The vineyards measures 100 mu / 6.6 hectares and are managed by 14 area families, with guidance from the Ao Yun team.

Zhang said Ao Yun has just over 300 blocks in total, further divided into ~700 sub-blocks, with a flag system used to indicate each parcel. One tiny area we saw, with a half-dozen rows of vines, constituted two different terroirs. And unlike in much of north China, there is no need to bury vines for the winter.

Both drip irrigation and flood irrigation are used. The latter is done three times per year: before winter, before bud burst and before flowering. The water comes not from the river below but from the mountains. Unlike in some regions where wineries pay for water, it is free here, says Zhang.

This was a visit both informative and idyllic given our stroll in the warm Yunnan sun, the diverse flora—persimmon, pear and peach trees, among others—and the occasional rustle of falling fruit or soft bark of a distant dog in the village. 

When I posted these photos online, I received the one below of Shuori in 2009, from a man who accompanied Australian oenologist Tony Jordan on his trips around China in search of the best place for LVMH to make its wine. More on that in a later issue.

We then went on another long and winding journey to the winery of Ao Yun, which translates to “flying above the clouds”, to tour the facilities and try the 2018 vintage.

The vineyards here are set majestically in a valley, with barn-shaped winery buildings and guest facilities perched above. As with other Ao Yun sites, precision viticulture is the game, including multispectral cameras mounted on a facing slope to monitor the vineyards.

Ao Yun, which had its first vintage in 2013, is overseen by Maxence Dulou. Manager Peter Dawa Pinchu says the winery still isn't open for casual visitors, as the team wants to get everything perfect first, but hopefully this happens soon.

He led us on a tasting of four 2018 wines that displayed a blend of fruit, tannins, balance and complexity that international critics—or those who aspire to be international critics—tend to love.

The Ao Yun flagship wine displays pure fresh black cherry with notes of toast, nuts and light earth. The fruit is a bit wild, say youthful, but with restrained tannins, and blackberry and spice character at the finish.
 
A visiting winemaker at our table declared it one of the world's best wines. I was surprised as I wasn’t sure it was the best wine I'd tried that week.
 
The Xidang was more complex in terms of aroma, with fresh roses, ripe dark fruit and chocolate, toast and something else umami-ish lurking. Smoother and easier drinking, with a pleasant tart edge, somewhere between raspberry and hawthorn.
 
The Shuori, from the vineyard we visited, had fresh rose aromas, too, but lighter fruit and whiffs of graphite. Fresh and juicy, and even a bit “chewy”, with lighter tannins and a softer finish. (Cranberry and yangmei in place of Xidang's raspberry and hawthorn.) The one seems less likely to be loved by experts but more versatile for a mixed crowd.
 
Finally, Adong came out swinging, with dark vibrant fruit, whiffs of violets, vanilla, candle wax and oak. And later, graphite, menthol, maybe even a hint of A-535 (!). Juicy and voluptuous, with dark purply fruit.
 
What does all this mean? Not much, as my notes are generally all over the place.

But I can say that while I do enjoy these wines, and they got superb reviews from our group, I kept thinking about being in such a wondrous high-flying unique place while judging its wines based on the standards of another continent and culture and in comparison to other regions. For that is what much of the wine game in China feels like: how does it stack up to international norms that are ultimately pretty much European.

A natural rejoinder is that one can both compare such wines to, say, red blends from Bordeaux while seeking how they capture the local "terroir." Yes, one can, I suppose.

Anyway, in the end, world-class wines by a world-class team that was incredibly informative in both the the vineyard and winery. At the end of the day, good wine relies on good people, and LVMH did a good  job in finding theirs.

Our last stop, after lunch, was to Bao Zhuang, which is attracting attention for its Celebre label, including from Julien Boulard, a well-known critic based in Nanning.

In April, Boulard asked himself if China’s fine wine had reached the level of other countries’ fine wines, and his answer was no. Then a short time later he tasted Celebre.

“Of all the Chinese wine I've tasted, I’ve never drunk a wine with a score of 92 or more by my standards," he posted on WeChat. He added that if any wine could reach 95 points, it must be from this producer, and later confirmed this with further tasting of Celebre and other wines from Bao Zhuang.

Celebre also stood out during the official 11-wine tasting at the festival. It was juicier and more intense than the others, with a kind of dark raspberry jam edge, but still balanced. 

"The closest thing we've had so far to a fruit bomb," I wrote in my notes, with someone else mentioning California. I'll follow-up on this wine with Boulard, who also talks at length about how some Bao Zhuang wines feature very localized aromas and flavors.

In any case, Bao Zhuang is beside a river, near a pretty busy road, with some tanks set outside. I should have asked about the impact of sun and temperature on the wine inside those tanks but was done after a long day of high-altitude fun.

We tried three wines, starting with a Cabernet Sauvignon Rose: a very light fruit aroma, with hints of red berries and candy apple, and summer flowers. Fairly juicy and easy drinking, with light tannins and a touch of pepper at the finish. Nice.

Then a Rose Honey 2018, a grape that producers struggle to make palatable in wine form. This one featured aromas of dried roses and ripe Bing cherry, was quite juicy, and had more acidity than I expected—the rose honeys I’ve tried have typically been flabby. There were flashes of intense red fruit and a slightly savory and spicy tart note at the finish. As mentioned, this particularly Rose Honey has been popping up at the kind of wine bars in China that attract the more curious wine consumer. (Someone said this wine might include other grape varieties, something I need to check.)

Finally, the Celebre 2018, a Cabernet Sauvignon weighing in at 14.5 percent alcohol and aged in new French oak. Deep intense fresh dark fruit, with hints of mint, dry grass and milk chocolate. Restrained but juicy and youthful, with lovely texture: something both beginners and aficionados could appreciate.

This one took me back to the festival tasting: it was the wine that made me go "huh?", that generated some back and forth within our group, the one people said leaned more Napa than Bordeaux.

Uh oh, those comparisons to distant regions again! But of course, Celebre embraces the local terroir. Just don’t ask me how. My pen was retired at that point as I enjoyed the last wine of our trip. I just know it was nice to have that lingering taste of dark fresh fruit on my tastebuds, the taste of something different, as I headed to the bus for our final long winding road trip, this time to the hotel.

The Forum

My reason for going to Shangri-la was to join a forum, moderated by professor Ma Huiqin, about promoting the region’s wines. With only five minutes total time for presentation and follow-up questions, I kept it short and—depending on your mental taste buds—sweet.

[My comments when asked about the advantages of Shangri-la wines.]

"Thank you, Ma Huiqin, and thank you, Shangri-la. 

“We know right now that the world wine market is struggling, and the Chinese market is struggling even more, so every wine region has one question, ‘How do we sell our wine?’ 

“I’ve been drinking Shangri-La wine for about 20 years, and I’m going to tell you my personal five reasons why I find it attractive.

“First, exclusivity. There are many wine regions in China—Ningxia, Hebei, Shandong, Xinjiang and more—but they are at 1000 meters to sea level. This is the only region that is this high.
 
“And in the world, there are only a handful [of high-altitude regions], so I think we should use this factor and also cooperate with other regions in Morocco, Chile and Argentina.
 
“Second, diversity. There is no one wine market in China. There are many wine markets based on income, generation, climate, cuisine and many other factors.
 
“Shangri-La is already doing well with the fine wine market, with Xiaoling, Ao Yun and Shangri-La.
 
“But they need to look to other markets, like craft wine, which appeals to younger consumers, such as natural wines and orange wines.
 
“Even today in Shanghai at the ProWine trade fair there are three craft producers pouring Shangri-La wines—FARMentation, Petit Mont and Xiao Pu—which shows you there is interest in this.
 

“Third, diversity, part two.
 
“Wine is seen as a very Western product, but if you are only promoting wine, it is too isolated.
 
“This region has other high-quality products we associate with the West, including coffee and truffles, and I think they should be packaged together.
 
“Fourth is health, a surprise answer. Surveys of Chinese consumers find they almost always have health as a top-three reason for drinking wine, and sometimes number one.
 
“And if you look at all of the wine regions of China, I don’t think anything looks purer than Shangri-La, with its pure water, white snow and clean air.
 
“And number five is history. We learn that modern Chinese wine history starts in Shandong in 1892 with Changyu.
 
“But we know Chinese and Europeans were making wine here decades before that.
 
“I first learned about this when I visited far to the south in Yunnan with Ma Huiqin 16 years ago. And now I am learning it again firsthand this week.
 
“I think if you embrace this history, and combine it with exclusivity and diversity, Shangri-La can become a leading wine region. Thank you.

[Follow-up: What is the biggest challenge of promotion of Shangri-La wines.]

“I think the biggest challenge here is the biggest challenge for everyone in China, which is this industry is so heavily focused on arguments from authority. Wine contests, wine scores, master classes and critics.

“None of these sell wine. Contests sell awards. Educators sell master classes. Trade fairs sell booths. And critics sell tasting notes. They are not selling wine.

“We followed this trend for a dozen years and the result is wine sales are lower now than five years ago.

“So, we need a much heavier focus on connecting the people who make the wine and the people who drink it, directly contacting the consumers.”

Finally, we were asked to finish with one sentence about Shangri-La's wines.

I simply said that when the story of Shangri-La is written, it will be a story of quality rather than of quantity, with the potential to be the home of the very best wines in China.

I planned another section in this newsletter, where I talk about random topics, such as where to get Chinese wines in Shangri-La City (Flying Tiger Cafe has a dozen and the shop next door even more, plus local beers, gin and one whisky), how Yunnan can avoid making the same mistakes as other regions in China, some of the incredible dishes enjoyed during the trip, and more, but I really want to get this newsletter out before I go to bed, so I will save that for a future edition!

I will also eventually post this material on the Grape Wall site, in most cases with more details, photos and videos. But I did want the initial draft of this most memorable trip to feature here first.